The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 3

'tfHE SAUNA JOURNAL Great Plains WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 5, 2001 AS ft ENTERtAINMENT arrest teen several chases A 16-year-old Salina boy was Arrested early Sunday after allegedly leading several Salina -police officers on short chases, The boy was identified as I Jonathan Moore, 16,142 Seitz. 5 Lt. Milce Sweeney of the Salina Police Department said an officer spotted a 1997 Jeep I speeding east on Crawford I Street about 12:35 a.m. Sunday followed it on Merrill, lUi- nois, Hancock and South 10th streets at speeds of up to 50 Jmph.

I The officer lost sight of the I Jeep. Another officer saw a iJeep that matched the description a few minutes later and Jpursued it for about a minute -on Ninth and Morrison streets losing it. Sweeney said third officer saw a Jeep imatching the description pull IJinto a driveway at 408 Frost. It -was there that Moore was Woman charged with aiding suspect TOPEKA A Topeka woman has been charged with harboring a man wanted in a Emporia apartment ex- -plosion. Shameika Lavette Holmes, 922, is accused of helping Ethan JjGriffin, 26, Topeka, avoid cap- liture from Aug.

13 through Fri-day, when he was arrested in JKansas City, Mo. She made her first appear- jance in Shawnee County Dis- Court Tuesday on charges Rof aiding a felon and obstruct- official duty. Holmes is being held on bond in the Shawnee 'County jail. Griffin has been charged two counts of felony mur- jder in the July 29 explosion fire that killed 19-year-old iPana Hudson and her 13- 'month-old son, Gabe. He is being held in the Lyon County on a $1 million bond.

Wallace L. Dixon III, 31, iJopeka, is also charged with in the fire. -year-old woman filled in DeSpto DeSOTO A woman died she Was shot in the hip at home in DeSoto early the Johnson County sheriff's department said. The woman has been identified as Melanie Sue Oliver, 41, DeSoto. She died while being taken to a hospital.

Authorities were looking for a male suspect. Another woman and two children, one of them an infant, were in the home at the time of the shooting. 1 killed on Kansas roads during weekend Traffic crashes on Kansas highways claimed at least one person's life during the Labor Day weekend. Andrew Baldwin, 21, Wichita, was killed Sunday evening in Harper County The Kansas State Highway Patrol said he was a passenger in a truck that hit a John Deere tractor traveling east on Kansas 2 west of Anthony Yoakam concert selling slowly BiCenter officials expected country singer to attract a sellout; 2,000 have tickets By AMY SULUVAN Vie Salina Journal Country star Dwight Yoakam's show scheduled for Sept. 29 at the Bicentennial Center will go on, but probably with a smaller crowd than first expected.

Yoakam's been paid, and so has opening act Allison Moorer, said the show's promoter, Bernie Glannon, owner of Bernie Glannon Entertainment in Kansas City, -Kan. YOAKAM Yoakam will be here, no matter how tickets have been sold, Glannon said. But whether Moorer will remain on the bill is undecided. About 2,000 people have tickets, said Karen Fallis, assistant manager at the Bicentennial Center. The bulk of those.

1,350, are tickets sold for cash. The other 600-plus tickets were traded to radio stations and other businesses in exchange for services, including advertising. The arena can hold 6,200. Everyone involved with promoting the show expected such a big name to sell out quickly, Glannon, said. "We had a small survey of 14 people, the radio stations and Bicentennial Center employees," Glannon said.

"They were really excited and thought this show would do really well in Salina." Such middle-of-the-road country acts as Alabama and Kienny Rogers have played multiple shows at the Bicentennial Center, and many of their performances have sold out. Still, Fallis thought, the people would come for Yoakam. For one thing, he's never played Salina. "We thought this would be a sell-out concert," Fallis said. "It doesn't appear, right now, that we're going to acliieve that.

Tickets are still available in both price categories ($29.50 and Glannon said if the concert were tomorrow, Moorer would perform in na. But as it is, he's considering dropping her. Cost isn't a concern, he said, because opening acts aren't paid much. Logistics are the problem. Yoakam plays a long show, often with an encore of several songs.

If Moorer performed a 40-minute set, for example, then the equipment was changed around for Yoakam and his musicians, the show could run really late. Glannon originally planned to present "An Evening with Dwight Yoakam" with no opening act, because he considers Yoakam a stand-alone act. Then Moorer opened for Yoakam on the tour's opening night in Nashville. She got a great audience response and was booked for several more shows. Glannon agreed to put her on this bill, too.

"Everybody says she's got a marvelous show but not much recognition at this point," Glannon said. "That is one area that, if I had my druthers, we would change the show," to a Yoakam-only event. Moorer has not had much success in country radio. Radio play is crucial for album sales and concert attendance. A darling with music critics, Moorer has recorded two albums of souliUl country music.

Her songs have much more in common with the traditional sound of country legend Williams than the pop-leaning of Faith Hill, the current queen of country Moorer's been nominated for an Oscar for her song, "A Soft Place to Fall," featured in the Robert Redfprd film "The Horse Whisperer." Country Music Television often plays her videos, several of which charted in the channel's weekly countdown. Yoakam's music varies greatly the other country acts that pack in crowds at the Bicentennial Center. For example, Alabama's "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time On You" and other pop-style tunes they've released lately are billed as country But it's a long stretch from that song to the honky-tonk rockers and melancholy ballads that run through Yoakam's career. Glannon hasn't given up hope of a big crowd. Maybe some are waiting until the last minute to spend their money "We still have almost a month left to sell those tickets," Glannon said.

Staff and Wire Reports The Journal wants to set the straight. Advise us of errors "by calling the Journal at (785) or toll free at 1-800- 'SB27 -6363. Corrections will run In space as soon as possible. The Associated Press A pilot driving atmotorized-propeiier device attached to an oversized paraciiute passes over Sheridan Hail on the campus of Fort Hays State University Tuesday. SALINA PLANNING COMMISSION Plans for a Lowe's store approved Home-Improvement center could be built by next summer By NATE JENKINS The Salina Journal Plans for the first of two large retail centers that could be anchored by large home-improvement stores in south Salina were approved Tuesday by the city planning commission.

The plat and zoning amendment approved by the commission clears the way for construction of a Lowe's Home Center and an adjacent retail center at the southeast corner of Ninth and Schilling streets. The relatively minor changes approved by the commission Tuesday also must meet approval of the Salina City Commission. The 33-acre tract has been primed for development for some time. It was annexed into the city about three years BY GEORGE ago with preliminary approval for commercial construction. The plat of the tract includes seven building lots.

The largest of those lots, directly across the street from the Target discount store at 2939 Market Place, will be home to the foot Lowe's store, flanked on the west by 668 parking spaces. Robert Carlin of Dallas-based Robert Carlin Companies, developer of the property, said after Tuesday's meeting the second-largest tract, located south of the Lowe's site, could be home to either one large retailer or several small retail stores. The remaining five building lots are parallel to Ninth Street. Carlin said queries he has fielded about the property have convinced him finding commercial tenants will not be a problem. Dan Moylan, senior site development manager for North Carolina-based Lowe's, said after the meeting that tion of the store could begin in October and possibly be wrapped up next summer.

Home Depot coming, too The Lowe's store could soon be joined in the Salina market by its biggest competitor nationally, Atlanta-based Home Depot. City Planning Director Dean Andrew said plans for a Home Depot store and adjacent retail center near the southwest corner of Magnolia Road and Interstate Highway 135 could be considered by planners later this month. Moylan of Lowe's said strong "demographic indicators" pointed to Salina being a good spot for the whale-sized home- improvement warehouse, and that having Home Depot as a neighbor would be business as usual for his company "We've done it in quite a few similar markets across the country," Moylan said of peting with Home Depot. "In this situation, there're enough demographic indicators to allow us to do it." Though Lowe's could gain a competitor, it will lose one albeit one that caters to a slightly different market in Payless Cashways, 707 N. Broadway The Lee's Summit, national company, which has filed for bankruptcy, announced last week it will go out of business.

Contractors say dwindling inventory at the store during the past few months has sent them searching elsewhere for building supplies. At least one says neither Home Depot nor Lowe's will be able to replace what Payless once offered. "Lowe's is more of a Suzie- homemaker type of place. It really doesn't do anything for the contractor," said John Pieschl, project manager for homebuilder Ponton Construction, 1315 Armory OFFICER STRUCK Salina Doliceman lit by car By The Salina Journal A Salina police officer suffered a cut on the head and scrapes to his legs and left arm when he was struck by a car while directing traffic after a car crash Monday night. William C.

Cox, 36, a Salina police officer since August 1989, was treated for his injuries in the emergency room of Salina Regional Health Center. He was not admitted to the hospital. Lt. Mike Sweeney said Cox was standing in the left, eastbound lane of the 700 block of West Crawford Street at 8:49 p.m. Monday, directing traffic so a tow truck could retrieve a wrecked vehicle, when he was struck by a car driven by Micheal D.

Koop, 27, Topeka. Sweeney said Cox hit the hood of the car, which was traveling about 20 mph, then hit the windshield, breaking the windshield. Koop was issued a citation for inattentive driving. The original crash occurred at 8:05 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Crawford and 12th streets.

According to a police report, William H. Neill, 36, 861 Custer, was driving a car south on 12th Street. Neill allegedly failed to stop at the stop sign at Crawford and hit a car driven by Edmond Joseph Giebler, 76,1111 Dove Drive. Giebler had been driving west on Crawford. Sweeney said Neill stopped his car and ran ft-om the scene.

He was found shortly after the crash walking near Star Lumber, 1210 W. Crawford. Neill suffered a head.injury and was treated in the emergency room at Salina Regional before being arrested on charges of driving with a suspended driver's license and numerous traffic violations, Sweeney said. Giebler and a passenger in his car, Patricia M. Giebler, 67,1111 Dover Drive, both were taken to Salina Regional, where they were treated in the emergency room and released.

There are bookstores and bookstores 51 Salina's lowest gasoline price found yesterday by the Journal. Call us at 823-6363, Ext. 150, if you find a lower fuel price In town. Flying 1-70 and Ohio Used bookstores and mall shops serve a different purpose than a Borders So, I'm walking down Santa Fe the other day, when I run into Al Mattson, proprietor of downtown's Budget Books. "Hey!" he said to me in all seriousness.

"I've got a couple of people who think I need to straighten you out." Then he cracked a big smile and teased me about the column I wrote a few weeks ago lamenting the fact Salina hasn't been able to attract and hold a real modern bookstore. You know, the Barnes Noble or Borders variety, the kind with tons of new books, places to sit and read and a swanky coffee and pastry counter at one eiid. Thesq bookstores are apparently yefy successful) given the number of them are betag built all the time. There two Barnes pjne ders on Wichita's Rock Road corridor alone. They must be making money despite or because of the.fact they have deliberately abandoned the old losophy of too many book stores: If you want to read, go to a library Maybe It works because enough people feel guilty sitting in those big stores for an hour or two reading books and magazines without buying anything.

Certainly the cozy atmosphere gets people through the front door, which Is the first step to any sale. Anyhow, when Carroll's Books, Music and Video on South Ninth closed recently, I suggested, now that our local entrepreneur was giving up the book biz, we could openly, yearn for a big chain book store to coitie to town without feeling disloyal. Even If people read no further than Salina support a real they might have been among those who challenged me to notice Mattson's wonderful used book-, store at 106 S. Santa Fe, or Waldenbooks In the Central Mall. GEORGE B.

PYLE The Sttllna Journal Mattson indicated he understood what I meant, even If some of his friends didn't. A musty'old store for musty old books Is a wonderful thing that no community should be without, even If It Isn't the same thing as a shiny new store for shiny new books. Al's used bookstore is one of the best. Mattson has made a real friend in David Jienkins, executive director of the Fox Theatre, and only partly because Mattson is the renovation project's official historian, "There are very few Al Mattsons left any more," Jenkins said, admiring the selection In his store. "I always check his store first, even before I go to Amazon." When I ran into Mattson on the street, I asked if he had a copy of the original Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein," something I may need to quote as I write about genetically modified crops, aptly known In Europe as "Frankenstein foods." He said he'd have It for me, and he was ready when I came by the next day.

But it turned out what he had was a novellzatlon of the most recent movie version, not the original. Guess who did have it. Waldenbopks. Waldenbooks is a modern bookstore In the sense it is a store, it sells books and it has electricity and running water. I like it.

I've dropped more than a few dollars there throughout the years and will again, even If they keep an-' noying me with their pitch for a discount card. But Waldenbooks Is a store In a mall, the kind of place you run by when you need something right now (they have a good selection of classics in lne)(pen'- slve editions), or when you happen to be wandering through the mall, which I don't often. Waldenbooks, like McDonald's, is not designed for leisurely consumption of Its product. And so Waldenbooks, like McDonald's, servps a but a different one than Barnes arid Nobel or The Olive Garden. Olive Garden.

Now there's something else we need. Journal columnist George B. Pyle be reached at 823-6464, Ext. 101, or bye- mail at.